Breakdown of Os meus três primos vivem no estrangeiro.
três
three
meu
my (m/f/pl: meu, minha, meus, minhas)
viver
to live
o estrangeiro
the foreign country / the foreigner
o primo
the cousin (m)
Questions & Answers about Os meus três primos vivem no estrangeiro.
What is the difference between using vivem and moram in this context?
Both viver and morar mean to live. Morar specifically refers to having a physical address or residing in a specific home. Viver is broader and implies the general experience of life, but it is very commonly used for living in a city or country. In this sentence, moram would also be perfectly correct and interchangeable with vivem.
In English, abroad is an adverb. Why does Portuguese use no estrangeiro?
In Portuguese, estrangeiro functions as a noun meaning foreign territory or foreign lands. To say someone lives abroad, you literally say they live in the foreign by combining the preposition em with the masculine definite article o to make no.
Does estrangeiro only mean abroad, or can it mean foreigner too?
It can mean both! As an adjective, it means foreign. As a noun, it can mean a foreigner (a person) or abroad (a place). Because it follows the prepositional contraction no (in the), the context here clearly points to the location abroad rather than a person.
Why is the definite article os required at the beginning of the sentence?
In European Portuguese, you must use a definite article like os before a possessive pronoun when it modifies a noun. While you might know that Brazilian Portuguese often drops this article to just say meus três primos, in Portugal, os meus três primos is the strict grammatical standard.
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